What are you reading now?

[randombs]

Finally finished Catch-22. Incredible book. It starts getting a bit ominous later on.

I ordered Murakami's 1Q84 which should arrive in a few days and until then I'm rereading Dune. Mind you, Dune's hooked me again so maybe 1Q84 will have to wait

[Decider-VT]

Just finished reading the first two Patlabor manga collections. Bit annoying to see that there isn't a third released over here, as the first two books just cover Section 2's formation and their training. Would've been nice to see how things turned out. Bit puzzling to walk into Forbidden Planet and see 40+ volumes of things like Prince of Tennis on the shelves, as I would've thought that a procedural police drama involving mobile suits would've had a bigger audience. Oh well! Just started Appleseed instead.

[QualityChimp]

I've just finished Kryss' book, The Tale of a Window Salesman.

It was a bit different from what I was expecting as it was a lot less serious!

Closest thing I can think of is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which as well as sharing a sci-fi setting has a lot of the crazy narrative style, such as breaking the fourth wall.
By the end of the book, all the plot threads come together and there's a pretty epic space battle!

I had plenty of chuckles along the way as he toys with narrative conventions or describes the crazy crew.

Good work, fella!

[k0pp0]

If you enjoyed Marvel Zombies, I can recommend some other books by one of the authors, Jonathan Maberry.

"Rot & Ruin" is a post-apocalyptic story about a teenage boy who starts helping his older brother in his job of "calming" the undead relatives of people who hire him.

"Patient Zero" is the first of a series of action books with a fringe-science influence.

I've just read issue 100 of The Walking Dead and the whole series has been really intense. Don't get attached to any characters - nobody's safe!

Cant say I was too attached to

->Open Spoiler<-

Glenn

But I struggled with the

->Open Spoiler<-

death of Lori, the baby and Carl getting shot

. Must be getting soft in my old age.

I love TWD but the intensity is full on, especially when you read all of them in one go. Need summat happy to read.

[Kaido]

I'm in need of something new to read, can anyone recommend some modern scifi or modern fantasy horror?
I've overdosed on HP Lovecraft and Stephen King recently, but not the genre, so something with a different writing style?

Something bleak like The Road or Alien

[briareos_kerensky]

Just finished reading the first two Patlabor manga collections. Bit annoying to see that there isn't a third released over here, as the first two books just cover Section 2's formation and their training. Would've been nice to see how things turned out. Bit puzzling to walk into Forbidden Planet and see 40+ volumes of things like Prince of Tennis on the shelves, as I would've thought that a procedural police drama involving mobile suits would've had a bigger audience. Oh well! Just started Appleseed instead.

Where does the UK edition stop? Patlabor was one of the first mangas published in Italy and the first I ever read. It got suspended after the editor closed and picked up years after and finally completed.
I consider the manga the best thing done with the Patlabor franchise along Oshii's second movie; it's a shame Bandai let the franchise die to promote more action and sci-fi oriented mecha series.

[JazzFunk]

Just finished a couple on nights, Stewart Lee's How Escaped My Certain Fate and James Whale's Almost A Celebrity. Lee's book is (obviously) intelligent and beautifully written, but also comes off as a tad not-that-interesting when taken as a whole, it disappointed me a bit, yet I will also say that Lee is an excellent writer and delivers 'da bomb' as he normally does, alarmingly articulate and a bit of an epic.

Whale's book is half the size, yet is four times as fast to finish. Whale is 'helped' here by his mate Shaun Hutson, so this is a very pacy book, but a bit sterile and threadbare in terms of atmos. You could read all 240-odd pages of this in less than 2hrs. Not a bad book but disappointlingly 'acidic', was maybe expecting a lime but instead you get a tiny grape. Overall, a nice, quick read, but is also VERY Alan Partridge, and those Littlejohn-style mini-rants between chapters are embarrassing, frankly. Got this for 99p new down The Works, it's a good book for the price.

[QualityChimp]

I like your fruit-based scoring system!

It's worth 4 skulls at least!

[QualityChimp]

I've just read the new James Bond novel, Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver.

It's a reboot of the series and Bond was born in 1979, so you get to see how he came into his position within 00 section of O Branch.

The plot itself involves Bond trying to track down a terrorist plot based on only a few scraps of evidence from intercepted communications.

It's a globe-trotting adventure that sees Bond fighting both lethal assassins and red tape in equal measures, but there's plenty of conniving going on and nobody can be taken for face value.

Jeffery Deaver is best known for his Lincon Rhyme series, one of which was made into a film with Denzel Washington (The Bone Collector), so there's plenty of twists and turns, most of which I just didn't see coming!

I really enjoyed the way we get to know Bond and some of his likes and dislikes. He's opinionated, but gives reasons why he has his preferences.

Yeah, top notch stuff and hope Deaver gets to do some more Bond as I loved the balance of mystery, action and classic Bond spy stuff.

[monel]

I read Jon Ronson's (SP?) book on Psycopaths a couple of months ago. It was pretty good, it leaves you a bit paranoid though since you start going over the characters you've known in your life and some of them probably exhibit a few traits (or more). I think people attracted to power or fame with an obsessive need are usually more than a bit dodgy. I wouldn't give them any Rolos.

[charlesr]

Keep on Running - The highs and lows of a marathon addict. Very enjoyable read if you have done any running and brought a tear to my eye when describing the London Marathon. Funny and easy reading, but the stats will get a bit relentless for people who aren't "digital".

[randombs]

Slowly ploughing through Murakami's 1Q84. I love his stuff

[zeroboo]

Finally finished Catch-22. Incredible book. It starts getting a bit ominous later on.

I ordered Murakami's 1Q84 which should arrive in a few days and until then I'm rereading Dune. Mind you, Dune's hooked me again so maybe 1Q84 will have to wait

i have yet to finish windup bird chronicle (been more than a year now) but i did thoroughly enjoy sputnik sweetheart, norwegian wood and wild sheep chase. I think 400 pages of murakami is about right, anymore just seems a little overdose!

i got scared after seeing how thick 1Q84 is >.<

[J0e Musashi]

The Fashion of Football: From Best to Beckham, from Mod to Label Slave.

It's a frankly awesome book. I know Paolo Hewitt quite well, and this is easily his best work so far. Right up my street. It's also the first ever electronic book that I've read too. I have joined the digital revolution. I think.

[vanpeebles]

Speccy Nation: A tribute to the golden age of British gaming - A tribute to the ZX Spectrum and the golden age of British gaming from veteran games journalist Dan Whitehead. Witty write-ups on fifty classic games
that helped define the ZX Spectrum.